World News by Wild Rose

Hong Kong should overhaul its ecotourism planning and allow visitors to book ahead at more of its popular countryside attractions, a lawmaker has said, after a survey found most residents believed the city had strong potential for nature-focused experiences but lacked enough quality options. A poll of 651 residents commissioned by lawmaker Perry Yiu Pak-leung’s office and think tank New Youth Forum found 71.8 per cent agreed Hong Kong’s countryside resources could be developed into high-quality...

We have put together stories from our coverage last weekend to help you stay informed about news across Asia and beyond. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Brics members find common ground on AI, trade and de-dollarisation push 2. China urges US to ‘stop all’ spying activities, slams ‘gangster logic’ 3. Police freeze HK$30 million in account of man who refused to share Mark Six prize 4. India-Pakistan water row deepens after Hague court ruling 5....

In the final instalment of our series of previews on the five-year plan and policy address, to be announced on September 16, Natalie Wong and Matthew Cheng look at how national security spans areas such as finance and technology and what Hong Kong must do to earn Beijing’s trust. Read part one here, part two here, part three here and part four here. With the recent sentencing of former leaders of Hong Kong’s Tiananmen Square vigil concluding a key high-profile subversion case, it would be easy...

A lunch supplier will stop portioning meals in classrooms at a Hong Kong primary school following a suspected food poisoning outbreak that hit 39 pupils and staff members last week. Danny Catering Service said in a statement on Sunday to its school partners, parents and teachers that the incident was “isolated” and linked to the school’s portioning arrangement, and did not affect its services at other locations. “To ensure student food safety and avoid potential cross-contamination or...

Hong Kong’s first leader Tung Chee-hwa, who died last week, has been remembered by former colleagues for his foresight in developing technology and actively engaging with mainland China to boost the city’s economic development during his tenure. Political heavyweights praised the former chief executive for being able to foresee developmental trends before others could, citing Tung’s decisions to establish Cyberport and the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park. “He proposed developing Cyberport...

Hong Kong police are investigating the deaths of a couple in their seventies after their bodies were discovered inside their home in Ma On Shan. Police said officers were alerted at around 8pm on Friday to a strange odour emanating from a flat in Heng Yat House at Heng On Estate. Firefighters forced entry to the flat, discovering a 72-year-old man and his 74-year-old wife lying in the living room, police said, adding the couple were pronounced dead at the scene. No suicide note was found, and...

There is no “red line” set for approving public assemblies, Hong Kong’s police chief has said, while warning that national security risks persist despite the landmark conviction and imprisonment of organisers behind the city’s annual Tiananmen Square vigil for inciting subversion. The Hong Kong government on Saturday also strongly condemned Western countries, anti-China media, overseas organisations and politicians for launching “malicious attacks” over the trial of the disbanded Hong Kong...

In the third of our series of previews on the five-year plan and policy address, to be announced on September 16, Leopold Chen and Theodora Yu look at how the city can raise its game and expand the adoption of artificial intelligence. Read part one here and part two here. Spotting bags of construction waste illegally dumped near a temporary refuse collection point in Hong Kong’s Southern district last year, former lawmaker and resident Michael Tien Puk‑sun immediately dialled the government’s...

Veteran Hong Kong actor and filmmaker Simon Loui Yu-yeung, better known to fans as the “King of Ghosts” for his prolific work in horror films, has died at the age of 62. Long-time friend and fellow actor Frankie Ng Chi-hung revealed the news to reporters on Friday. He said Loui’s wife, TV and radio personality Ma Li, had confirmed the filmmaker had died in a hospital in Guangzhou on Monday after losing his battle with gastric cancer. “The family hoped to stay low profile. There was no big...

This article was published on September 12, 2011. Veteran Ip wins best actress in Venice by Adrian Wan Veteran Hong Kong movie star Deanie Ip Tak-han was named best actress at the Venice Film Festival for her portrayal of an ageing domestic servant in Ann Hui On-wah’s film A Simple Life (Tao Jie). The award, a first for a Hongkonger, was a crowning achievement for the 63-year-old Ip, who returned to the big screen for the first time in a decade to take the film’s leading role. The movie also...

China’s buoyant stock market lifted brokers’ earnings in the first half, while Hong Kong saw continued growth in retirement assets. Beyond China, a strengthening yen and Washington’s Treasury buy-back programme highlighted shifting dynamics in global currency and bond markets. Here are some of the figures that have drawn the most market attention this week. Chinese brokerage revenue jumps more than 50 per cent Chinese brokerages saw revenue from their core business rise by more than 50 per cent...

We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Beijing tells Manila to ‘stop lying’ after minister exposes South China Sea note China has accused Philippine officials of “grandstanding and lying” after Manila’s defence secretary publicly read aloud a Chinese diplomat’s note on the...

Kazakhstan’s businesses should prioritise long-term fundraising ambitions rather than quick wins in the Hong Kong and mainland Chinese markets, the managing director of the Central Asian country’s sovereign wealth fund has said. Saltanat Satzhan, managing director for development and privatisation at sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna, said she also aimed to list state-owned rail operator Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) in Hong Kong by the end of the year. KTZ, wholly owned by the government...

A Hong Kong court sentenced three former organizers of annual vigils marking China’s 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.

Deep in the southern border zone of Johor, Malaysia, separated from Singapore by a narrow strait, a steady flow of commuters moves seamlessly between the two sovereign neighbours. Beyond the immediate checkpoints, a short 30-minute train ride connects visitors to regional hubs such as Kulai, where a vastly different dynamic comes into view – one defined by the rapid expansion of digital infrastructure. Inside YTL’s sprawling Green Data Centre Park, massive operational blocks stand beside...

Hong Kong’s home prices will end the year 15 per cent higher than a year earlier, but still 16 per cent below their high-water mark in 2021, according to local property agency Midland Realty. Underpinning the positive forecast, the city’s banks were not likely to follow an increase in US interest rates by the Federal Reserve if one occurred this year, executives from the agency said at a press conference on Thursday. Dave Ma Tai-yeung, CEO of Midland (Residential), said that as the market...

Mainland Chinese have paid tribute to Hong Kong’s first chief executive, the late Tung Chee-hwa, for introducing a solo-travel scheme more than two decades ago that opened the city to millions of travellers and created indelible memories for middle-class families. The Individual Visit Scheme has grown from a handful of cities in Guangdong province in 2003 to its current 59 spanning the country as far west as Urumqi in Xinjiang, contributing to a more than fivefold increase in the number of...

A former vice-president of Hong Kong’s stock exchange operator has been charged by the city’s corruption watchdog with allegedly failing to comply with a statutory order to declare his assets during a probe. Geoffrey Tong Po‑hang, 39, former vice-president of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX), faces a count of failing to comply with a notice issued under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) said on Thursday. He was released on bail...

PT Amman Mineral Internasional, one of Indonesia’s biggest copper and gold producers, has picked banks for a listing in Hong Kong that could raise at least $1 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

A 177% debut surge on Wednesday by Excelland Robotics Wuxi Co. is putting a spotlight on Hong Kong’s rules for allocating shares in initial public offerings after the listing left almost 94% of the shares in institutional hands despite strong demand from retail investors.

A Hong Kong court has sentenced two men with autism to up to three years and two months in prison for their involvement in a pro-independence group seeking to separate the city from Chinese sovereignty. District Court Judge Ernest Lin Kam-hung on Thursday found that courier Chan Tai-sum, 27, and waiter Ng Chi-tung, 25, had been heavily involved in the Taiwan-based Hong Kong Democratic Independence Union between November 2024 and July 2025. He said the pair had jointly devised a “full plan” to...

Urgent priorities for advancing China’s philanthropy sector include fostering a favourable legal environment and overhauling the nation’s social service industry, according to leading policy experts at a forum in Hong Kong on Tuesday. Mainland charitable organisations could learn from Hong Kong’s experience to increase their professional expertise, while the Greater Bay Area city cluster plan could be leveraged as a catalyst to boost the sector, they said. The panel discussion – part of the Hong...

Tung Chee-hwa, Hong Kong’s first chief executive who oversaw the city’s 1997 return to Chinese rule, has died. According to a statement from his office issued in the early hours on Wednesday, he died on Tuesday at the age of 89, surrounded by his loved ones. It is understood that he died at the Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital. Tung was also a vice-chairman of China’s top political advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. In this live blog, the South China Morning...

Tung Chee-hwa, who served as Hong Kong’s first chief executive and oversaw the 1997 return of the city to Chinese rule, has died. The former vice-chairman of China’s top political advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), died on Tuesday at the age of 89, according to a statement from his office issued in the early hours on Wednesday. He was last seen in public in July 2021 when he attended the premiere of a film to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding...

Hong Kong’s first university-led wealth management academy was launched on Tuesday, as the city’s rapidly expanding private-wealth industry competes for professionals capable of serving increasingly sophisticated and international clients. The Wealth Management Academy, established by The University of Hong Kong Business School, aims to bring together policymakers, financial institutions and academics to train professionals for the wealth management, asset management and family-office...

The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Cambodian education authorities to expand a computational training programme to cover early childhood learning in the Southeast Asian nation. The MOU, which builds on an earlier agreement signed last year to roll out the club’s CoolThink@JC programme in the country’s primary schools, was signed at the PBC (Philanthropy for Better Cities) Forum 2026 on Tuesday. The programme was launched in 2016 and...

Sales of non-exchange-traded investment products in Hong Kong surged to a record HK$9.9 trillion (US$1.3 trillion) in 2025, marking a 63 per cent year-on-year increase, according to the latest joint survey by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA). A significant expansion in market participation drove the record-breaking performance. The number of investors completing at least one transaction rose 33 per cent to a record at more than 1.6 million,...

Hong Kong authorities have reserved the right to seek compensation from contractors over faulty lift installation work that has delayed operations at Queen Mary Hospital’s new block, the development minister has said. Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn Hon-ho said on Tuesday that the main contractor, a Paul Y-Able joint venture, and lift subcontractor Anlev Elex Elevator would be required to bear all costs of remedial work, ensuring public expenditure on the project would not...

First Hong Kong astronaut Lai Ka-ying will deliver a live lecture from space to students and teachers at her alma mater on Wednesday morning, with the session also broadcast to pupils across the city and in neighbouring Macau. According to an Education Bureau notice delivered to all primary and secondary schools on Tuesday, Lai, alongside her two fellow Shenzhou-23 crew members, mission commander Zhu Yangzhu and Zhang Zhiyuan, would take part in the “Tiangong Class” at Tsuen Wan Public Ho Chuen...

Beijing has recommended the largest-ever cohort of civil servants from Hong Kong to take on roles in United Nations agencies this year, expecting the deployments to broaden their global perspective and strengthen the city’s position as a bridge between China and the international community. The batch of 16 officers sent under the UN Junior Professional Officer (JPO) scheme came from 13 grades and departments, including customs, police and the city’s anti-corruption agency. The number surpassed...